Know your enemy: Breaking down Week 8 with Steelers Wire

The Pittsburgh Steelers are a familiar enemy for the Browns, playing twice a year in the AFC North. The two teams could not settle a winner in Week 1, tying at the end of overtime in Cleveland.

What will happen in the rematch in the Steelers’ home stadium? To find out what to expect from Pittsburgh and what’s going on with Le’Veon Bell, I turned to brother site Steelers Wire and managing editor Curt Popejoy. He shed some light on why the Browns might not enjoy the rematch so much.

What has changed with the Steelers since the Week 1 tie?

Right now the offense has started to hit its stride. After using James Conner heavily in the first game the coaches pulled way back on his workload and the offense suffered. During the two-game win streak, you can see a renewed commitment to the run game, and it is paying off.

On defense, things are still very hit-and-miss, but the coaches have committed to a more aggressive stance with additional blitzes and have decided if they are going down, they are going down swinging.

Is the Le’Veon Bell situation still a big problem or has the team come to accept the holdout and moved on?

As this point, Bell’s status feels like a nonissue for the team. Fans still want to make a big deal about it, but with the offense doing as well as it is, any panic about not having Bell on the field seems to be gone.

How are the special teams performing?

Kicking and punting have been horribly inconsistent. Chris Boswell went into the season as one of the most clutch guys in the league but has missed too many kicks. Jordan Berry continues to be all or nothing when he’s on the field but somehow stays on the roster. Coverage teams have been better, but they have been held back by hit-or-miss kicks.

What is one area where the Browns might have an advantage?

I’d say comparing the Browns’ edge players to the Steelers’ tackles, Cleveland holds a distinct advantage. Alejandro Villanueva and Marcus Gilbert are good run blockers but struggle with speed rushers, so Myles Garrett and Jamie Collins should be successful.

Who wins and why?

Considering the Browns seem to be trending down and Pittsburgh is playing some of their best football, I’ll go with the Steelers. The first week was something of an anomaly, and when you fast forward to know these are both very different teams. I think Cleveland is going to be good and it might even be this season, but this week I don’t see them outscoring the Steelers offense.

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